needle released her on a violent tug, electricity humming through her skull. Tears streamed from her eyes. Her mouth worked soundlessly over words.
Agony shredded her in half, but then her new gift kicked in, and a warm sensation stole through her mind, soothing the pain with a kiss of healing heat.
She wept with gratitude, her body shaking from the onslaught of the unexpected torment. Caro should have anticipated it, but in her haste to escape, she hadn’t considered the repercussions.
No, not exactly that.
She had just chosen not to acknowledge them because there was no practical reason to dread them. The needles had to be removed to free herself, consequences be damned.
After a few soft words to Sethios, promising him she was fine, she started on the other needles lodged in her chest. They all came with their own variety of excruciating results, but nothing compared to the metal probes in her mind. Those were taking the longest to heal, the Seraphim having used advanced technology to quite literally control her brain.
That explained so much about her lost time.
Fortunately, they had no harness for her soul. Which was why her spirit had been able to force her into a wakeful state despite the rehabilitating machines attached to her physical form.
Almost there, she whispered, more to herself than to Sethios.
Then a burst of light blinded her, the door to her room being thrown open by a Seraphim with a shock of white-blonde hair and startling blue wings.
Chanara.
There were so many colors in the coliseum—a fact Gabriel had never noticed until today. He was simply awed by it all, the fluttering of wings a cacophony of sound that he found to be rather pleasing to the ear.
His lips threatened to curl, his heart warming to the sensation.
Then the absurdity of the thought kicked him in the gut. He was surrounded by Seraphim, all studying him for a reaction, and he was two seconds away from smiling.
Pull yourself together, he chided himself. Admiring the way the sun plays off all the plumes decorating the open-aired auditorium isn’t practical or useful.
Except it was rather beautiful.
Stop it.
His father cleared his throat from the second row, his red wings tucked behind him in his backless chair.
In this room, everyone remained ethereal except for the one under scrutiny, which left Gabriel standing alone in the center in his corporeal form while everyone else misted in their seats.
Hundreds of Seraphim encircled him, all sitting at varying heights in a myriad of rows ringing the auditorium floor. Above him was a pure blue sky. No clouds. Just the sun illuminating the cascading colors of feathers fluttering in the air.
“Would you like to make a statement, Gabriel?” his father asked by way of beginning the proceedings.
“I’ll wait until I’ve been formally accused,” he replied in as flat a tone as he could manage. He would prefer to learn what they knew about him first rather than unceremoniously give up information.
His father nodded, respecting his logical path forward. “Cavalina,” he prompted, waving at the air before them.
A series of images appeared in a cloud of mist, all projected through the female Seraphim’s violet gaze. She was from the recollection line—a Seraphim family that could collect and retain information and then present it visually before a crowd. The female essentially served as an evidence bank for debates.
Photos streamed across the room, breaking out into tablet-sized images that flew upward to each council member to roll before their eyes like a floating television screen.
Gabriel watched the show with a bored expression, not surprised at all that they showcased the Hydraians and Ichorians at his estate. He’d given up trying to hide them all over a week ago. This fate had been inevitable since the day Sethios and Caro met.
Gabriel hadn’t understood the purpose of her mission, had felt it was dangerous and unproductive, until he’d learned about her pregnancy from the Fates. That was the day his perception of the council shifted. He no longer trusted their guidance, and that, unfortunately, included his own father.
Osiris had been a problem for millennia. Why send Caro twenty-five years ago to deliver a pointless edict? Because they needed her to create Stas. So why not just tell her that? She was a dutiful Seraphim. She would have played her part without all the lies and deceit.
Which was how he knew there had to be a missing piece to all of this.
They wanted to use Stas in some way that Caro never would have agreed to allow, even